R.H. Donnelley 1998 Annual Report
Directory Advertising Services
Performance and Positioning:
DonTech is R.H. Donnelley's perpetual partnership with an operating unit of Ameritech Corporation. DonTech serves as Ameritech's exclusive sales agent for approximately 125 yellow pages directories published in Illinois and northwest Indiana.
DonTech Delivers
"Nineteen ninety-eight was a very solid year for DonTech," says Bruce Disbrow, president and chief executive officer of DonTech. "Our sales performance was on target, exceeding industry growth, and we successfully completed a number of key initiatives aimed at enhancing future performance."
1998 Performance and Progress
The DonTech sales team successfully achieved approximately 5 percent growth in its yellow pages business in 1998, while simultaneously completing the final phase of a two-year initiative to rebalance the publication schedules for the Ameritech directories. In the past, a disproportionately large number of directories were published in the fourth quarter of the year. As a result of the rebalancing initiative, the publication dates of these directories are now more evenly distributed throughout the year, enabling DonTech to achieve higher levels of sales productivity and enhanced customer satisfaction.
DonTech also decentralized several key support functions to local sales offices, allowing the company to significantly improve its ability to respond quickly to customer needs.
"DonTech's increased responsiveness has strengthened our marketing programs, which translates to more value for the customer and increased sales for DonTech," says Disbrow.
Long-Term Growth Opportunities
Internet advertising solutions represent an important element of DonTech's long-term growth strategy to leverage the strengths of its highly skilled and productive sales force. As Ameritech's exclusive print and electronic sales agent in Illinois and northwest Indiana, DonTech will begin selling Web advertising for Ameritech's Internet yellow pages in 1999. An important tool for successfully selling this product is new laptop-based technology, which will be implemented by the DonTech sales force in 1999. This investment in sales automation will improve productivity by reducing paper flow, while significantly enhancing customer service.
A Commitment to Delivering Increased Value
DonTech is an important contributor to R.H. Donnelley's overall results. A key element of its strategy is to leverage the capabilities of both R.H. Donnelley and Ameritech. By closely linking with the marketing programs of Ameritech, DonTech delivers enhanced service to the many customers whose needs reach across the borders of the various states served by Ameritech.
"We are committed to achieving the goals of our partnership by maximizing the experience and support provided by Ameritech and Donnelley," says Disbrow. "The end result will be a significantly enhanced capability to deliver increased levels of advertising value to the local businesses we serve."
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